It isn’t sacrificial bullocks and goats that I want from you. For all the animals of field and forest are mine! The cattle on a thousand hills1 And all the birds upon the mountains! If I were hungry I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. No, I don’t need your sacrifices of flesh and blood. What I want from you is your true thanks. I want your promises fulfilled. I want you to trust Me in your times of trouble, so I can rescue you and you can give Me glory (Psalm 50: 9-15 TLB)

That’s what God wants? That’s ALL He wants? It seems like He would have a long list of things. That’s pretty hard to comprehend, isn’t it?

But wait! When you analyze the “all” it’s something that most of us don’t want to parcel out to anyone . . . even to God. To always be on our toes and give Him thanks? To keep our promises? To trust Him every day? That’s quite a bit of “all”.

“Thank you” can be so superficial, to our friends, our family, our spouse. Generally it is more in the category of scratching backs: “Thank you. I did this for you , now you do this for me” God wants us to be thankful to Him.

“For what? He hasn’t answered my prayer that I sent His way years ago.”

“Thank Him? He hasn’t kept His promises to me. Why should I be so eager to give Him thanks?”

“I prayed fervently for my wife to live through her cancer, but He didn’t bother to answer my prayer. Thank Him? No way.”

Just a couple of thoughts that might surface when we talk about thanking God. We need to remind ourselves regularly that God never promised to keep us from the hurts of the world. He did promise to go with us through all the hurts. Is that right? Does He do that? Absolutely. We may not acknowledge His presence, we may tackle the ‘hurt’ by ourselves, we may feel neglected and pout and complain. But that’s one of HIS promises: I will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:8). And God does not lie (Titus 1:2).

And to actually “keep” all of the promises we have made to Him? “Nearly every Sunday I sit there in my pew and tell Him I am going to change. That I am going to do thus and so. Do you mean following through on things like that?” Well, integrity is pretty important in our lives, as an employee, as a parent, as a child, and as a Believer. As is commitment. If I tell you I will do it, isn’t it only right that you should expect me to follow through on what I told you I would do? God has that same expectation.

Then, to trust Him, not just in times of trouble, but every day. That’s a hard one, too, isn’t it? There’s something in my life right now that brings tears every time I think about it. So, what do I do with it? Mull all of the options over and over and over? Write out what I should say if asked? Fret about it? Try to handle it on my own? No. He wants us to trust Him in these times of trouble so He can handle it all for us. He may not do it the way we had it all mapped out, but He keeps His promises. He will rescue us and we will give Him praise and glory when we understand His plan.

Gratitude. Integrity. Trust. Those are basic to any relationship, aren’t they? Those three things are the foundation of a love relationship. And remember what the very greatest commandment is: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:36-37). He is merely asking us to love Him.

I do love You, Lord, You know that! And I want to love You as You have asked me to love You. I can’t do that, can I? But, isn’t that one of the reasons you gave us Your Spirit, living inside of every Believer? We can’t do it, but You can through us. I guess I need to learn how to let You, don’t I?

Thank You for Your patience and Your unconditional love.